Bye, Little Buddy

Last week, actor Bob Denver died. As everyone knows, he played the goofy lead role in the old CBS comedy Gilligan's Island (still a favorite in rerun heaven). Say what you will about the inanity of Skipper, the "perfesser," Lovie, and the "movie star," you can at least say this: You could watch it with your children. This lighthearted show was clean and (despite some light slapstick) completely nonviolent.

Not so Gilligan's current reincarnation, the dark ABC program, Lost. What responsible mom or dad would view this dark and disturbing program with young kids? Denver's death, sad in itself, is a little signpost showing how low our popular culture has descended. As the skipper might say, "Bye, Little Buddy."